干苦活

    Dirty work字面解释是“脏活”，do the dirty work是什么意思呢？请看对话：

    A: Fred wrote a very good report last week.

    B: Actually, Sarah did all the dirty work.

    A: So, you mean that Sarah did all the research?

    B: You bet!

    Note: Dirty work is usually something that no one wants to do. For example, most people don’t want to clean toilets at a restaurant. It is a very dirty and smelly job. As an idiom, it means to “do the unpleasant or difficult things.” Worse still, it is often a hard task for someone else. It’s common that company employees do the dirty work for their executives. They write the reports, do the research, work overtime, and manage their staff. The Oxford Dictionary also says “dirty work” refers to unpleasant or dishonest tasks. For example: I feel there is some dirty work going on in this company.